2008 Camelina Production

For immediate release: March 31, 2010

For more information contact: John Hilton at 1-800-835-2612.

USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service field office in Helena, Montana once again presents camelina

estimates for the state of Montana. This is the third year of data collection. The intent of this report is to provide

insights into the 2009 camelina crop and provide a basis upon which future historical comparisons can be made.

Crop Development:

The field office collected crop development data for five different stages: planted, emerged, blooming, turning and

harvested. Table 1 outlines the general beginning and end of each stage. It should be noted that these are statewide

averages and could be different due to specific local conditions.

Table 1: Montana’s Camelina Crop Development, 2009.

Stage Beginning End

Planted Early April Early June

Emerged Mid April Mid June

Blooming Mid June Early July

Turning Late June Late July

Harvested Mid July Late August

Acreage:

For the 2009 crop year, there were 20,800 acres of camelina planted in Montana of which 19,500 acres were

harvested as shown in Table 2 on the next page. This compares to 12,200 acres planted in 2008 and 9,100 acres

harvested. The largest county planting camelina was Big Horn at 5,100 acres followed by McCone county at 2,300

acres and Pondera county at 1,800 acres. Even though camelina is a dry land crop, a small percentage of Montana's

planted acreage was irrigated.

Production:

Statewide production totaled 11,998,000 pounds for 2009 with a state yield of 615 pounds/acre. This is an increase

from last year when production was 5,181,500 pounds and the yield was 569 pounds/acre. Yield reports ranged from

about 20 to 1,500 pounds/acre with 60% of the reported production yielding between 550 to 1,500 pounds/acre. No

conclusions can be drawn about the effects of irrigation on production since the number of acres under irrigation was

limited.

Table 2: Montana’s County Level Acreage and Production for Camelina, 2008-2009.

County and

District

2008 2009

Planted

Acres

Harvested

Acres

Yield

Lbs/Ac

Production

Pounds

Planted

Acres

Harvested

Acres

Yield

Lbs/Ac

Production

Pounds

Other 200 200 540 108,000 100 100 500 50,000

Northwest 200 200 540 108,000 100 100 500 50,000

Chouteau 700 700 473 331,100 800 700 1,070 749,000

Glacier - - - - 700 600 640 384,000

Liberty - - - - 900 900 615 553,000

Phillips - - - - 500 300 770 231,000

Pondera 1,200 1,200 1,581 1,897,200 1,800 1,800 760 1,368,000

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Teton 1,200 700 768 537,600 1,400 1,300 100 130,000

Other 1,700 1,500 301 451,100 600 600 475 285,000

North Central 4,800 4,100 785 3,217,000 6,700 6,200 597 3,700,000

Dawson - - - - 900 900 1,000 900,000

Garfield - - - - 600 600 750 450,000

McCone - - - - 2,300 2,300 750 1,725,000

Sheridan - - - - 1,500 1,400 420 588,000

Other 1,800 1,600 238 381,500 800 700 1,180 828,000

Northeast 1,800 1,600 238 381,500 6,100 5,900 761 4,491,000

Broadwater - - - - 500 500 250 125,000

Fergus 1,300 400 443 177,200 - - - -

Other 2,200 1,500 496 744,100 500 300 330 100,000

Central 3,500 1,900 485 921,300 1,000 800 281 225,000

Southwest 500 500 508 254,200 800 500 614 307,000

Big Horn - - - - 5,100 5,100 550 2,805,000

Stillwater - - - - 500 400 450 180,000

Other 1,000 400 394 157,500 - - - -

South Central 1,000 400 394 157,500 5,600 5,500 543 2,985,000

Southeast 400 400 355 142,000 500 500 480 240,000

Montana 12,200 9,100 569 5,181,500 20,800 19,500 615 11,998,000

 

Data were collected from October 15 through the end of December 2009, during which time about 5,900 operators

responded to the County Agricultural Production Survey. Data for Camelina were collected in conjunction with small

grains, hay, pulse crops, oilseeds and livestock data. Crop progress data came from the weekly Crop Weather survey

that ran from April through October, 2009. The primary target of the crop progress survey is county extension agents

and those individuals that have firsthand knowledge of their respective counties crop conditions.

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